The government again extended the curfew in Gopalganj district from 8:00pm on Saturday to 6:00am on Sunday while the joint forces arrested 250 people in the three days till Saturday afternoon over the violence centering on the National Citizen Party rally in Gopalganj on Wednesday.
The Gopoalganj district administration, however, imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure restricting public gatherings under its jurisdiction from 6:00am to 8:00pm on Sunday while educational institutions and public examinations would remain out its purview, according to a home ministry press release.聽聽
At least 2,984 people were sued in four cases filed with three police stations, including two with the Gopalganj sadar police station, but no murder case was filed over the killing of five people in the Wednesday鈥檚 violence that took place after leaders and activists of the Awami League and its banned student organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League allegedly attacked the motorcade of NCP leaders.
Gopalganj district additional superintendent of police for crime and operations Md Ruhul Amin Sarker said that they had arrested over 250 people in the three days after the violence.
鈥榃e are conducting combing operations throughout nights under the leadership of the Bangladesh Army personnel and we are working to enforce the curfew over the district,鈥� Ruhul Amin told 抖阴精品.
Responding to a question over allegations by families of not conducting autopsies at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, home adviser retired Lieutenant General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Saturday said that the bodies of the deceased would be exhumed for autopsy if required.
He said that the autopsy of the person鈥檚 dead body was conducted who died in Dhaka Medical College Hospital, but a group of people took away the bodies of those who died in Gopalganj.
鈥楢 high-level probe committee was formed in this connection. The committee will ascertain who is responsible for that. Measures will be taken following the recommendations of the committee,鈥� said Jahangir.
The question arose as the chief adviser鈥檚 press wing in a release quoting police said that a group of unruly people took away the bodies of the deceased from the Gopalganj District Hospital at about 7:30pm on Wednesday and prevented doctors from carrying out post-mortem of the bodies.
But victim families alleged that physicians at the hospital did not conduct autopsies of their bodies, according to several media reports.
Police filed a case with the Kotalipara police station on Friday against 1,655 people, including 155 named and 1,400-1,500 unnamed people under the Special Powers Act 1974, said Kotalipara police officer-in-charge Md Abul Kalam Azad.
鈥極ur drives to arrest the accused will continue,鈥� the OC added.
In the three other cases filed between Thursday night and Friday night, two were filed with the Gopalganj sadar police station under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2009 and another filed with the Kashiani police station for creating obstructions by feeling trees, against 1,329 people.
Gopalganj SP Md Mizanur Rahman was contacted for his comment, but he said that he was busy and could not talk about anything.
Meanwhile, 23 citizens, including rights activists and lawyers, in a statement on Saturday condemned and expressed concern over the killing of the five people and injuring many other centering a political party鈥檚 rally, said a statement of the Human Rights Forum Bangladesh issued on the day.
Such incident was a direct attack on citizens鈥� security, constitution-defined fundamental rights, and human rights, said the statement.
The signatories to the statement include human rights activists Sultana Kamal and Khushi Kabir, Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad president Fauzia Moslem, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust honorary executive director Sara Hossain and Association for Land Reform and Development executive director Shamsul Huda.
The interim government on May 12 banned all activities of the Awami League and its affiliated, allied, and like-minded organisations until the completion of their trials at the International Crimes Tribunal.
During the Gopalganj violence on Wednesday, a police vehicle was torched, the upazila nirbahi officer was attacked, cocktails were exploded, brickbats were hurled, and the NCP rally venue and motorcade were attacked.
The police fired rubber bullets, hurled sound grenades, and lobbed tear gas shells while members of the Bangladesh Army opened fire in the air to disperse Awami League activists and to save the NCP leaders.
